Scrimmage kick near the endzone.

[Warrenkicker]

Here is a good one for a back judge. Had this one last night.

K is kicking a scrimmage kick. R muffs it at R-5. R tries to pick it up again at R-3. The ball is now lying at rest inside R-1. K dives to recover the ball at that point. The ball is not possessed until it has crossed the goal line. Who's ball is it where?

[BktBallRef]

Touchback. All kicks going into R's end zone result in a TB. If can't be K's ball unless they recover it before it enters the EZ.

[Warrenkicker]

That was my call. However another official on the field signalled TD. He was deep on this play in a 7th grade game and he couldn't see where the ball was. I came in blowing it and signalling TB. Well the K coaches weren't that happy but they were up 33-6 at the time so they weren't loud for very long. This was just another reminder to this other official that K can not score a TD if they recover any kick. The best K can hope is that they recover the kick in the field of play.

[Snake~eyes]

Definitely a TB, that was an easy one, although I have heard people mess it up and have errantly given K a TD.

[The Roamin' Umpire]

Touchback is correct.

With the caveat that this is not a word one should generally use, it is impossible for K to score a TD on a kick that is recovered beyond the line, without R having had possession first (at which point it's no longer a kick).

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Good call, warrenkicker. But let's twist it a little: Suppose everything else is the same except that R never muffed it. Would the call be different?

[Warrenkicker]

If the ball was at rest prior to K touching the ball then the ball became dead when it was first touched inside R-1. If the ball was still moving then you have first touching at R-1 and the result is a touchback.